Period discomfort affects around 80 per cent of women at some point in their lives. Period discomfort can strike at any age, from early teenage years through menopause. During menstruation, most women suffer some discomfort, especially on the first day. However, for five per cent to 10 per cent of women, the discomfort is severe enough to cause them to miss work.
If your mother had period pains, you’re more likely to have them as well. Premenstrual symptoms such as bloating, sensitive breasts, swelling stomach, lack of focus, mood swings, clumsiness, and exhaustion are experienced by 40 per cent of women during periods. Dysmenorrhoea is defined as painful menstruation. It’s the pain in your lower abdomen caused by your uterus contracting soon before or during your menstruation. When the uterus does not receive a fertilised egg during the regular menstrual cycle, it squeezes out the build-up of tissue inside, resulting in bleeding. Working women’s roles have changed dramatically over the world as a result of social pressures and economic conditions. Working women have also been put under a lot of pressure to establish a job that is as energetic and holistic as their male counterparts while maintaining active involvement in their personal lives. Menstruation management at work, on the other hand, is one of the most underappreciated concerns that need immediate attention and support because it impairs women’s productivity and efficiency. Due to ancient beliefs and traditions, menstruation is still regarded as something filthy or impure in Pakistan, and the word menstruation is greeted with raised eyebrows and disgust.
Even the women themselves do not talk about their cycle with anyone because it is still considered taboo. “When I first got my period I didn’t tell anyone for several days because I was ashamed, it took me two months to open up to my mother,” an 18-year-old girl in Pakistan describes her experience.
In Pakistan, two major companies are offering menstruation leave: Swyft and Floraison Intimate.
“I sometimes don’t understand why people don’t talk about their periods, especially at work because it is a place where you talk about things in a professional way without any judgements. Why does nobody explain to the men how much pain we women bear even to normally sit and stand during our cycle? I remember one of my friends was sharing her experience from her work by telling me that she almost fainted at work because it was her first day of the cycle and she could not function properly because of the pain, cramp and dizziness. When she talked about it to one of her bosses; he decided not to call in sick. “I just don’t think [a period] counts as a sickness,” she said.
Only a few countries offer some form of menstrual leave: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Zambia. Spain is now considering granting women a three-day leave from work each month if they are experiencing severe menstrual pain, The Telegraph reported. This will make Spain the first-ever Western nation to offer the advantage. Some companies in the United States have this policy too. It means that all of the above countries have a law for menstruation leave. All over the world, there are countries that do not have a law or policy for menstruation leave but some companies have their own policies which offer women to take leaves in the first three days of periods. In Pakistan, two major companies are offering menstruation leave: Swyft and Floraison Intimate.
Swyft Logistics, a two-year-old tech-based logistics firm with a 30 per cent female staff, has devised a “period policy” called “Monthlies” that allows employees to take time off around their periods without having to pretend to be “ill” or suffer the shame that surrounds menstruation.
Muhammad Uns, CEO of Swyft, said that the policy was specifically designed to combat that stigma: “I have managed many female members of staff over the years and I have seen women at work who are bent over double because of the pain caused by their periods. Despite this, they feel they cannot go home because they do not class themselves as unwell.” More than just another leave policy, Swyft’s period policy encourages women to take time off as needed and discourages reluctance to speak openly about their bodies.
The other initiative was taken by Floraison Intimate, a lingerie brand with a mission. It aims to “break the taboo surrounding ladies’ undergarments in Pakistan”
Floraison is a small organisation, with a staff composed entirely of women. Its founder, Ramsha Mariam revealed why she thought it was necessary for her company to give period leaves to employees. “Being a woman entrepreneur, I know it’s not easy to work and be active during your periods because of the cramps and several other issues like heavy flow, back aches and migraines, so I decided that in my organisation, all women should have some kind of rest on such special days,” she said. “Our female employees are very happy because now they are under no mental pressure to cope with the menstrual pain and meet the deadlines at work [at the same time].”
Periods are a difficult time for women, and many organisations fail to acknowledge that a woman experiencing period pain may be unable to work. In some circumstances, the pain is so severe that it necessitates medical attention right away. It may be difficult for women to address their problems with their bosses at work, especially since there is a cultural stigma in Pakistan about discussing menstruation in public. Being a woman I really encourage the efforts of all the big and small companies who offer leaves in the days of a woman cycle. There should be a policy introduced in which the companies allow the women to take three leaves on any day out of seven days during periods because some women experience pain initially, some experience it in the middle and some in the ending days. By doing this a lot of women will be encouraged and put more effort into their work.
Khadija Javed is a freelance writer